Gaming machines may be used to play a variety of games of chance, such as slots, poker, bingo, keno, and blackjack, in response to a wager. Any winnings resulting from play of a gaming machine are typically either stored on the machine as credits or immediately dispensed as coins from the machine's coin hopper into a coin tray. If the winnings are stored on the machine as credits, the machine dispenses a number of coins corresponding to the number of credits from the coin hopper into the coin tray in response to actuation by the player of a “cash out” or “collect” key. To take the coins with him or her, the player generally must transfer the coins from the coin tray to a coin collection cup by grabbing and carrying the coins, one handful at a time, from the coin tray to the coin collection cup.
A major drawback of the foregoing procedure for collecting coins is that dirt and metal from the coins is readily transferred to the player's hand or hands. To alleviate the problem of dirty hands, gaming establishments have attempted a couple solutions.
First, some gaming establishments provide hand wipes at their currency exchange counters. Nonetheless, it is inconvenient for a player to have to perform the extra step of cleaning his or her hands following play of a gaming machine. In addition, the player must walk around with dirty hands until the player has access to the hand wipes or a bathroom that is often remotely located. Moreover, hand wipes only do a fair job of cleaning one's hands. Players who are particularly sensitive to sanitary conditions may not be satisfied by hand wipes and may even have reservations about playing gaming machines that require a player to collect coins as described above.
Second, other gaming establishments now provide coinless gaming machines that dispense tickets, vouchers, or cards instead of coins. While such machines eliminate the problem of dirty hands caused by coins, there is still an ongoing demand from both players and gaming establishments for gaming machines that dispense coins. It has been found that a significant segment of the market still prefers gaming machines that dispense coins because of the “buzz” and excitement generated by coins falling into the coin tray.